Insurance
by Lost Sapphires
Summary: “Lois’s visions aren’t set in stone” Chloe whispered, eyes set again on the gun, Looking for the weak spot, for a way out. “Oh, I know,” Tess smirked “this is just insurance.”


Heard that Chloe and Tess have a full on cat-fight in series 9, and instantly this scene popped into my head! Spoilers for Pandora if you haven't seen it. Diverges from canon either before or a least sometime during Persuasion.

I don't own any off this!

Enjoy!

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Her timing was off. She moved a second too late, but a second was enough. Tess's foot connected with her chest, tossing her backwards and causing her skull to crack against the mahogany floor. Her ears rung from the force and a million colours crowded her vision. Momentarily blinded, she attempted to push herself up from the hard surface. She groaned as her head swam, protesting against the moment. As her vision cleared, she found herself staring down the barrel of a gun. Tess was staring down at her, breathing heavy and hair ripped from the elegant bun it had been in earlier. Her eyes were as focused as the gun, never leaving their target.

Chloe froze, body rigid, eyes unblinking. The room was deafly silent. No one spoke, no one moved. Both women seemed to be waiting for the other to make the next move. Each weighing up the odds. Chloe knew she could try and talk Tess down from her proverbial ledge and risk infuriating the red head even more. Or she could try and get the gun away from Tess and risk getting shot in the scuffle. Tess too was debating the situation. Despite everything there was still a room full of people only a corridor away and a gunshot would not go unnoticed, but this was her chance at changing her future, preventing what was currently her future.

In the end neither woman had the chance to choose, as the double doors swung open shattering the unearthly silence. Tess didn't break focus, not for a second. What did it matter to her who it was? This was her decision to make. Her future to determine.

Chloe, however, broke the deadly staring match. Whoever it was, they were sure to be a better sight than the barrel of a gun.

He was stood in the doorway aghast. Hand still on the door handle, as if frozen in time. His eyes darted from one figure to the other and back again, trying to decipher how this situation had come about. His eyes met Chloe's and the severity of the situation crashed down on him like a ton of bricks.

"Mercy, put the gun down." His voice was controlled, too much so, Chloe could see him forcing himself not to be rash. Not to burst in and be the hero. Not to risk that gun going off.

Tess almost laughed at the sound of his voice. "It had to be you, didn't it?" Her eyes still locked on Chloe. "You just can't resist being a hero, can you Oliver?"

He swallowed, ignoring the questions. "Mercy, put the gun down." He repeated.

"Mercy's all gone" she said, her lip quirked into a slight smile "Besides, she didn't show any to me."

"What?" he asked brow furrowing, mirroring the expression on Chloe's face.

"She kills me Oliver." She laughs to herself "Shoots me with an arrow. Now, I wonder who taught her that?" Oliver's eyes darted back to Chloe, her eyes were wide, fixated on Tess. "All for the greater good." She spat. "Right Chloe?" Her eyes were burning with hate and vengeance.

"That doesn't make sense. You're here." He took a step forward,

"Don't move" she growled. He froze, throwing his hands up, even though her back was to him and she couldn't see. Hearing like a cat, Oliver thought, even when sparring she could always hear him coming.

"You're not dead. Mercy" He said softly.

She laughed, "I'm not insane, if that's what you're thinking. I mean you must be thinking it. How could your poor, innocent Chloe Sullivan kill me?" Her voice was so doused in venom, Chloe wondered whether or not she'd spit in her face while she was at it. "But no I'm perfectly sane, I've just seen what you do to me."

"How?" Oliver asked, at least if she was talking he figured she wasn't shooting.

"In Lois's visions. She didn't remember, but I did."

"Lois's visions aren't set in stone" Chloe whispered, eyes set again on the gun, Looking for the weak spot, for a way out.

"Oh, I know," Tess smirked "this is just insurance."

"You can't kill her," Oliver told her bluntly "you've a room full of reporters down there, what are you gonna do when they hear the gun shot?"

"I pay them off;" a cruel smile flooded her features "or maybe give them to the Kandorians for target practice. Who cares? She'll be dead."

Oliver stared, shocked at the statement. "What happened to you?" Oliver asked disbelief laced in his words.

"I got stronger" she told him defiantly.

"That's not what I'd call it"

Chloe saw the muscle in Tess's jaw twitch she wanted to look at him.

"Mercy," Oliver started.

"Don't call me that." She hissed.

"Why?" he pushed "Because it means something?" He swore he saw her muscles tense. "You're surrounding yourself with a race of people you're not part of, and you're pushing every human away from you. You're not one of them, Mercy, You can't be."

"Shut-up Oliver"

"Why because you want to push me away too?"

"I'll shoot her."

He caught Chloe glance at him out of the corner of her eye. Maybe this was the wrong tact, maybe getting her angry wasn't a good plan, not that he had a plan. Right now his mouth was just running on its own steam.

"Why? For revenge? Retribution? To hurt me? It's not gonna help, Mercy."

"Don't" she bit.

"Don't what? Huh Mercy? Don't tell you the truth? Because right now you're Zod's lackey, and that's your choice and you can't blame Chloe for that, now can you?" She was shaking. He could hear her breathing. This time he took a step as he spoke "Maybe she made the right choice!"

That was it. She spun, arm out stretched, ready to fire.

In the same instant, Chloe swept her leg under Tess's, knocking her to the ground and causing her to release her grip on the gun. As it fell Chloe seized it, pulling herself upright and turning the weapon on Tess.

In an instant the roles were reversed.

Tess looked up at her, smirking through a mess of red curls. "What you gonna do Chloe," she taunted "kill me?"

"Chloe, c'mon." She heard Oliver's voice, but she daren't let her eyes leave Tess. Slowly she walked backwards towards him, gun trained on Tess at all time. A warm hand landed on arm.

"You ok?" He whispered. She nodded, eyes still on Tess, forcing herself to keep focus and not to bury herself against his chest. His hand ran the length of her arm, right down to the barrel of the gun.

"Go back to the party." He said quietly as he took the gun from her hand.

"What?" She looked up at him, shock evident, as he took over the unflinching gaze.

"Go back to the party," He wasn't looking at her, he was watching Tess.

"Oliver?" her confusion etched on her features.

"I'll be there in a minute" She opened her mouth to speak again but her cut her off. "Go."

Slowly she stepped away him, hesitant to leave him. Her eyes darted between him and Tess who was still on the floor where she'd fallen, but who suddenly seemed a million miles away, refusing to look at either of them.

Chloe walked out the doors Oliver had come through only a little while before, but that "little while" seemed like a lifetime. She leant against the wall and allowed herself to breath, praying that Oliver wouldn't be too far behind her.

"Mercy?" Oliver spoke in a voice close to a whisper. She wasn't looking at him. She was staring into the distance, as if looking at something he couldn't see.

"Just go, Oliver" she told him, raising herself up to her full height "It doesn't matter anymore. The future in Lois's visions is upon us; tomorrow Zod's tower activate and this world _will _change. It's done."

She looked at him. He searched her eyes. Searching for the woman he knew.

"That future" he whispered, moving towards her "is not the only possibility."

He reached out and touched her cheek, running his thumb over the soft skin. Once she had been full of fire and self assurance, now she seemed bitter and cold. Since when does ice destroy fire, he wondered.

"My part won't." She told him. He watched as her gaze drifted away again. After a moment she spoke again, voice softer now, close to a whisper, "You held me while I died, you held me, stoked my face and kissed my forehead" She met his gaze. "That won't happen this time, will it?"

"No," He answered, "I don't suppose it will."

She nodded slowly and looked away.

This woman was not the person he had known. This was what Zod had made her.

Mercy, his Mercy was gone.

"Goodbye Tess." He kissed her forehead and walked out the door.

Chloe was in the hall waiting for him, with a worried look on her face that brightened only when she saw him. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close to him.

"You had me worried for a minute there, Sidekick" he muttered into her hair.

She smiled against his chest, "sorry" she mumbled.

"She could have killed you Chloe. What were you doing in there?"

She looked up at, smiling, a definite glint in her eye. "If I can't hack Tess's system, I sure as hell can poison it! They'll need an exterminator to clear out all the bugs I set loose." His eyes widened at her words. "It's not much but it'll buy us some time. If it delays Zod's plan one day, then maybe that one day will be all we need."

"You're amazing!" He told her, "Insane, but amazing"

She smiled, a bright, brilliant smile, "I know!" She laughed.

Oliver knew then Tess was wrong. Lois's vision of the future wouldn't come true. He wouldn't allow it. They would stop Zod. Him and Chloe. Those towers would never activate and the sun would never turn red. This was their world not Zod's, and Oliver sure as hell was gonna let him ruin it. Not now.

"Come on," He told her, smiling back at her, "let's go save the world!"

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Well, what did you think?

I've never written anything with Tess in it before, so I'd love feedback on that!

Kisses.

xoxo


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